CRITICAL INCIDENT TRAINING FOR DEVELOPING INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATIVE COMPETENCE AMONG CHINESE JAPANESE MAJORS: A PEDAGOGICAL FRAMEWORK

Abstract

Japanese language programs at Chinese universities list “intercultural communicative competence” (ICC) as one of their educational objectives. However, their curricula tend to focus more systematically on language skills in assessment rather than on students’ ability to understand and respond in specific contexts. Critical Incident Training (CIT) remains under-explored in Japanese language education in China, particularly as a structured approach that organically integrates linguistic knowledge, cross-cultural reflection, and communicative behavior. As a conceptual paper, this study constructs a teaching framework for Japanese majors in China through a comprehensive integration of academic research on Critical Incident Training (CIT), Japanese pragmatics, and intercultural communicative competence (ICC).This paper integrates Kolb’s experiential learning, Mezirow’s transformative learning, Byram’s intercultural competence model, and Deardorff’s process model to elucidate how ambiguous situations facilitate interpretation, comparison, contextual explanation, reflection, and behavioral adjustment. The resulting six-stage framework, developed at the conceptual level, includes: presentation of. Critical Incident, individual interpretation, group discussion, cultural and pragmatic interpretation, reflective comparison, and alternative response exercises. Eight preliminary themes represent recurring cross-cultural-pragmatic decisions in Sino-Japanese communication; these themes were selected because meaning varies by context, multiple interpretations are possible, and interpretations influence learners’ subsequent actions. A hypothetical case involving an indirect response to a request vividly illustrates this framework. In the context of Japanese language classrooms, the framework links language and culture to reflection and performance, and provides observable assessment criteria for teachers to use during the evaluation process. Although the framework is grounded in pedagogical theory, it has not yet been empirically validated.